Regional Water Association Awards Scholarships to USU Engineering Students
News Release — May 20, 2021 — Two Utah State University engineering students received $1,000 scholarships from the Intermountain Section of the American Water Works Association.
AWWA is an international society dedicated to providing total water solutions assuring the effective management of water. Each year, the Intermountain Section — which covers Utah and Eastern Idaho and boasts more than 600 members — awards four scholarships to supports students in the field of water quality, supply, and treatment. This year, two of those recipients were USU students Shelby Bulkley and Kailey Jorgensen.
Shelby Bulkley, Undergraduate Scholarship
Bulkley is a junior in civil engineering from Payson, Utah. A former competitive swimmer, Bulkley says she’s always been obsessed with water, especially in the outdoors. “If there’s a waterfall involved,” she said, “I want to be there.” But what really drew her to the water side of civil engineering were her goals for the future: to work with nonprofits to improve water and sanitation systems in developing countries.
Currently, Bulkley works as a research assistant for Drs. Blake Tullis and Crookston at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. She’s working on publishing a paper with a doctoral student about sediment erosion near piano key weirs, a structure (recognized by its resemblance to piano keys) commonly used in dams.
Kailey Jorgensen, Eva Nieminski Graduate Scholarship
Jorgensen is a master’s student in civil and environmental engineering from Shelley, Idaho. Many of Jorgensen’s experiences as an environmental engineering undergrad revolved around water, from her drinking water internship with Idaho National Laboratory to her senior project to redesign North Davis Sewer District’s wastewater treatment plant.
“It's super interesting to know what is in your water. People just drink and dispose of it without knowing where it’s going or what processes it has to go through to be treated.”
In addition to her graduate studies, Jorgensen works as an environmental scientist with the Idaho-based engineering consulting firm MarCom. She consults with Idaho National Laboratory to ensure their research and development efforts align with government environmental regulations.
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Writer: Anessa Pennington, anessa.pennington@usu.edu, 435-797-7512